EA CEO Andrew Wilson earned more than $25 million in the 2023-24 fiscal year, a new report shows, with the studio's NEOs (named executive officers) collectively taking home over $60 million across the financial year.
Per EA's 2024 Annual Meeting and Proxy Statement, Wilson's total earnings for the fiscal year come to $25.64 million, which is spread across salary, stock awards, and "non-equity incentive plan compensation".
Collectively, EA's NEOs raked in $60.06 million for the fiscal year, with EA entertainment and technology head Laura Miele bringing in $12.1 million as the company's second-highest NEO earner.
These numbers come after a year of heavy layoffs for EA. Back in February, the studio announced it would let go around 5% of its workforce, which means hundreds of staffers found themselves out of a job earlier this year.
Among those layoffs were several employees at Apex Legends and Titanfall developer Respawn, and a Star Wars FPS in development at the studio was also canceled.
When combined with EA's assessment in January that its financial performance for the third quarter of the fiscal year was "strong", awarding this much money to executives while also letting hundreds of employees go is not a great look, to say the least.
Somewhat ironically, the Proxy Statement praises Wilson for a year of "record high talent retention" and "strong talent attraction". Somehow, I think the hundreds of employees let go this year would probably beg to differ.
The layoffs at EA came during a particularly difficult year for the gaming industry, which also saw a number of other studios, both big and small, either closing or downsizing.
Given that the total number of layoffs in 2024 has already surpassed that of 2023, however, that wave is showing no signs of slowing down, and it's likely that more big studios like EA will be letting employees go before the year is through.
Of course, this is the same company that recently announced a new share buyback scheme to cheer up its shareholders, so perhaps we shouldn't be surprised at the exorbitant incomes of its C-suite. Stay tuned for more.
